Archive for March, 2010

Student Life (Independent newspaper of Washington University in St.Louis)

By:Gina Hyun

To some, she may be the woman of their dreams. At 5 feet 7 inches and 120 pounds, her physique is slender, and she has strawberry-blonde tresses that caress her flawlessly smooth complexion. She is amiable, understanding and enjoys intelligent conversation, but perhaps her most redeeming character is her sexual submissiveness.

Her name is Roxxxy, and she is the world’s premiere female sex robot.

“She doesn’t vacuum or cook, but she does almost everything else,” said her inventor, Douglas Hines, who made Roxxxy’s debut in January at the Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) in Las Vegas, Nev.

The sex toy industry, globally worth more than $15 billion, has never seen anything like Roxxxy. There are blow-up dolls and other robots, but she is the closest replacement for true human companionship, and for $7,000 she will be someone’s friend forever.

Beneath her soft silicone skin, Roxxxy is enabled by a computer that features voice recognition and speech synthesis, among other software. The customer can even choose Roxxxy’s personality, as she comes preloaded with five different personalities like Rigid Farrah and Wild Wendy.

Hines, a computer scientist and former Bell Labs engineer, is a self-proclaimed happily married man from Lincoln Park, N.J., who merely wanted to find a marketable outlet for his artificial intelligence expertise.

Roxxxy will not be available for delivery for several months, but Hines is taking pre-orders through his Web site,

TrueCompanion.com, where 4,000 men have already signed up.

“They’re like, ‘I can’t wait to meet her,’” Hines said. “It’s almost like the anticipation of a first date.”

According to Grace Lee, spokeswoman for the AEE porn industry convention, Roxxxy garnered a lot of attention.

“Roxxxy generated a lot of buzz at AEE,” Lee said. “The prevailing sentiment of everyone I talked to about Roxxxy is ‘version 1.0,’ but people were fascinated by the concept, and it caused them to rethink the possibilities of ‘sex toys.’”

Roxxxy’s exterior is made from hypoallergenic silicone cast over a structural skeleton. Although she cannot move by herself, her body is pliable and can be bent into almost any position. Hines employed a female model to create Roxxxy’s anatomically perfect mold.

The robot functions on a rechargeable battery that lasts about three hours for every charge. The electrical cord plugs into her back.

Roxxxy is able to have conversations because when she “hears” someone speak, the computer converts the words to text and then cross-references it against a database of hundreds of fitting responses. Roxxxy’s selected response, which was prerecorded by an unidentified radio host, is then heard through a loudspeaker under her wig.

To date, Roxxxy is only available in English, but Hines is in the process of creating Japanese and Spanish versions in addition to a male version named Rocky. He can even personalize each Roxxxy for extra charge by recording specific dialogue as requested by the customer. In other words, one Roxxxy can be a movie buff while another is an expert in organic chemistry.

“Everything you say to her is processed. It’s very near real time, almost without delay,” Hines said of Roxxxy’s ability to talk. “To make it as realistic as possible, she has different dialogue at different times. She talks in her sleep.”

Roxxxy’s closest competitor in the U.S. is the Realdoll, which is cheaper (about $5,500) but mute. Hines believes that no other sex robot can offer the same emotional connection as a Roxxxy. His main target consumer group is socially awkward and older men who have trouble meeting women.

Although Roxxxy is a new product, the concept of wanting to increase sexual pleasure is not unique.

In the medical arena, vaginal cosmetic surgery to increase female pleasure is gaining popularity among women. Most of these surgeries are risky and uncovered by insurance, and have no published studies on their effectiveness, however.

One procedure is called Vaginal Rejuvenation and it comes with a price tag of approximately $7,000. It involves tightening of the vagina for older women who feel too loose to enjoy sex.

Another procedure is Labiaplasty, which costs around $6,000, and aims to correct the size or asymmetry of the inner or outer labia. Uneven lips are very common and normal, however.

Women can also have their hymen repaired for $5,000 to experience the feeling of losing virginity again.

With the advent of technological and medical innovation, attitudes toward sex in the 21st century are clearly far from what they used to be just five decades ago.

TrueCompanion is taking pre-orders for Roxxxy sex robot, and if you make your pre-order now, you save 500$

Every sex robot costs $6,495 and comes with their subscription plan included which covers updates and general support for $39.95 per month.

When you make your order you get to customize your model. You can choose between caucasian, asian, afican (light or dark skin), and tanned. You get to choose her eyes and hair color and style, the make-up and the manicure, and for $100 more you get a special Pubic Hair Style and Color.

Good luck, and please leave a comment here after you buy and enjoy.

TrueCompanion

About TrueCompanion

Created in 2009, the world’s first sex robot is designed to be your ultimate companion. Developed by Douglas Hines, an artificial intelligence engineer, Roxxxy has scientific artificial intelligence that allows her to interact with users. She can talk and listen, carrying on a conversation with the user, and is able to feel a users touch. Learn more at www.TrueCompanion.com

It’s a new year, and with it comes a renewed lust for companionship. Combined with the recession’s effects on dating and the narrowing channels of discovering love outside the Internet, many are hunching over their laptops flirting in hopes of finding a mate.

But that’s so 2009.

Enter True Companion’s Roxxxy the Sexbot, a 120-pound, 5-foot, 7-inch mechanical with an anatomically-accurate mechanical skeleton hidden underneath real-feeling “flesh,” according to its maker. No matter how real she may feels, I can’t shake the thought that she’s a cross between Joan Jett and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with a dash of Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders thrown in for good measure — and that’s weird.

Roxxxy debuted at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas (where else?), and at the show, had a laptop plugged into her back. But she’s also Wi-Fi capable, and her little quirks, like the way she holds your hand, can be shared with other sexbot owners through the True Companion Web site. Wi-Fi also makes Roxxxy easily upgrade-able, in case a new OS debuts, or — shudder to think — she catches a computer virus.

Roxxxy has attitude, with several personality types you can elicit at the touch of a button. Frigid Farrah is reserved and a bit chilly; Wild Wendy lives up to her name; S&M Susan, well, you know; and Mature Martha has that experienced thing goin’ on. Owners can also change Roxxxy’s hair color, cup size, race, and other characteristics until they get that perfect creature. However, you cannot take away the cold, dead stare.

But in case you think Roxxxy is all about sex her creators said that the sex aspect is mere marketing, and that Roxxxy is all about companionship. She’s built with technology that allows her to carry out simple conversations. Douglas Hines, the robot’s inventor, told The Telegraph that Roxxxy is much more than her blow-up predecessors. “She’s a companion. She has a personality. She hears you. She listens to you. She speaks. She feels your touch. She goes to sleep. We are trying to replicate a personality of a person,” Hines said. You know who else is really good at replicating people’s personalities? You guessed it! Real people!

Prices will hover around $7000 to $9000, depending on the level of customization.

True Companion also has plans to create a male counterpart named Rocky. I wonder what hispersonality types will be, and if he can enjoy a cold Schlitz while watching the game.

After a friend of former Bell engineer Douglas Hines’ died in the terrorist attacks on 9/11, he decided that preserving his friend’s personality through artificial intelligence would give his children a chance to interact with and remember him. Instead, his research into AI ultimately led him down a very different path — the creation of a customizable, anatomically-correct robotic rubber sexdoll with multiple personalities. Meet Roxxxy, the sex robot that focuses on meaningful conversation instead of lifelike movement.

Considering all the advances in technology in the past twenty years or so, it was bound to happen and the second decade of this century has ushered in a a new “exotic toy.” Or is that “erotic” toy?

It’s been said that the brain/mind is the most important sex organ, and now a New Jersey company has developed the world’s first sex robot, one that focuses on appealing to the mind. Her name is Roxxxy and she hasn’t evolved much beyond the level of a child’s talking toy — yet. She has been designed to engage the owner in conversation rather than human-like motion.

She can’t move on her own. Her voice comes from an internal speaker. There is a laptop connected to cables coming out of her back. There are touch sensors at strategic locations so she can sense when she is being moved but can’t move on her own. She says, “I love holding hands with you” in response to her creator touching her hand.

Roxxxy’s creator is Douglas Hines, founder of True Companion LLC based in Lincoln Park, NJ and she was demonstrated at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas on the 9th of this month. Prerecorded phrases were demonstrated but she will also be able to synthesize phrases out of prerecorded sounds, like the voice that gives you a phone number you have requested. The laptop will receive updates over the internet to expand Roxxxy’s vocabulary and capabilities. Hines is charging something like $7,000 to $9,000 including the laptop and expects to
start shipping in a few months. Buyers will be able to select different personalities, from “Wild Wendy” to “Frigid Farrah.”

Hines had a friend who died in the 9/11/2001 terror attacks and he was inspired to preserve his friend’s personality, to give the man’s children a chance to interact with him while they are growing up. While looking around for commercial applications for artificial personalities, he originally thought he would create a home health care aide for the elderly but was thwarted by the volume of paperwork to comply with regulatory and bureaucratic agencies’ requirements so he switched to a less stringent market.

In a 2007 book, “Love and Sex with Robots,” British chess player and artificial intelligence expert David Levy says robots will become significant sexual partners for humans, answering needs that other people are unable or unwilling to satisfy.

Has personality and talks to you

Roxxxy the sex robot had a coming out party on the weekend in Sin City.

In what is billed as a world first, a life-size robotic girlfriend complete with artificial intelligence and flesh-like synthetic skin was introduced to adoring fans at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo.

“She can’t vacuum, she can’t cook but she can do almost anything else if you know what I mean,” TrueCompanion’s Douglas Hines said while introducing Roxxxy.

“She’s a companion. She has a personality. She hears you. She listens to you. She speaks. She feels your touch. She goes to sleep. We are trying to replicate a personality of a person.”

Roxxxy stands five feet, seven inches tall, weighs 120 pounds, “has a full C cup and is ready for action,” according to Hines, who was an artificial intelligence engineer at Bell Labs before starting TrueCompanion.

The anatomically correct robot has an articulated skeleton that can move like a person but can’t walk or independently move its limbs.

Robotic movement is built into “the three inputs” and a mechanical heart that powers a liquid cooling system.

Roxxxy comes with five personalities. Wild Wendy is outgoing and adventurous, while Frigid Farrah is reserved and shy.

There is a young naive personality along with a Mature Martha that Hines described as having a “matriarchal kind of caring.” S & M Susan is geared for more adventurous types.

Aspiring partners can customize Roxxxy features, including race, hair colour and breast size. A male sex robot named “Rocky” is in development.

People ordering the robots online at truecompanion.comdetail their tastes and interests much like online dating sites but, here, the information is used to get the mechanical girlfriend in synch with her mate.

“She knows exactly what you like,” Hines said of Roxxxy, noting that Rocky will also come with personalities.

“If you like Porsches, she likes Porsches. If you like soccer, she likes soccer.”

Roxxxy will chat with her flesh-and-blood mate, and touching her elicits comments that vary according to personalities.

She is wirelessly linked to the Internet for software updates, technical support and to send her man email messages.

People can customize “true companion” personalities and then share the programs with others online on the company’s website, according to Hines.

“Just think about wife or girlfriend swapping without actually giving the person to someone else,” Hines said. “You can share the personality online.”

Inspiration for the sex robot sprang from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and an empty field in Pennsylvania.

“I had a friend who passed away in 9/11,” Hines said. “I promised myself I would create a program to store his personality, and that became the foundation for Roxxxy True Companion.”

Hines sees his creation not only as a recreational innovation but also as an outlet for the shy, people with sexual dysfunction, and those who want to experiment without risk.

Roxxxy versions are priced from $7,000 to $9,000 US, depending on features. The sex robot is available now in Europe and the U.S. and will eventually be available globally, Hines said.

TrueCompanion – About TrueCompanion

Created in 2009, the world’s first sex robot is designed to be your ultimate companion. Developed by Douglas Hines, an artificial intelligence engineer, Roxxxy has scientific artificial intelligence that allows her to interact with users. She can talk and listen, carrying on a conversation with the user, and is able to feel a users touch. Learn more at www.TrueCompanion.com

Imagine the girl of your dreams. She’s perhaps 5 foot 7 inches tall, weighs 120 pounds, has dark, lustrous hair, looks great in a negligee, is always ready for action, and loves to talk about football. That’s the exact description of Roxxxy, the world’s first sex robot. Except for, you know, the being alive part.
This life-size rubberized robot is not your typical blow-up sex doll. Oh, no. Roxxxy, you see, has a personality. Roxxxy can chat with you about your favorite topics like beer and football.

Roxxxy is anatomically correct, if you know what I mean and I think you do. She has an articulated skeleton that moves like a person, but she can’t walk or move her limbs independently.
These sexbots come with various personalities. Wild Wendy is adventurous and outgoing while Mature Martha is for those who lust after MILFs. Then there’s S&M Susan who’s ready for some domination and Frigid Farah who is reserved. Why you would want to spend money on a sex robot that’s frigid is another question altogether.
Roxxxy comes with her own laptop and is connected to the Internet so she can send you loving emails throughout the day.
The doll is made by True Companion LLC, a New Jersey company, and made its debut at the recent Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.

You can customize each doll’s race, hair color, and of course, the breast size. Roxxxy is expected to go on sale for $7,000 to $9,000.

On the drawing board: “Rocky”, a male version of the sexbot.
If you’re not completely weirded out by now, you can check out all the sexbot action at TrueCompanion.com.

TrueCompanion - About TrueCompanion

Created in 2009, the world’s first sex robot is designed to be your ultimate companion. Developed by Douglas Hines, an artificial intelligence engineer, Roxxxy has scientific artificial intelligence that allows her to interact with users. She can talk and listen, carrying on a conversation with the user, and is able to feel a users touch. Learn more at www.TrueCompanion.com

In what’s sure to be viewed as a wrong-way direction in social change, “Roxxxy” the robot lifesized girlfriend was introduced at AEE 2010, the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. Roxxxy robot lifesized girlfriend is a anatomically correct facsimile of a woman dressed for sex, and with “servos” and other electronics to make it seem, well, real. It’s maker calls it the first “sex robot.”

Violet Blue, where are you?

Roxxxy robot lifesized girlfriend was created by former Bell Labs employee Douglas Hines, who’s overweight, balding, bespectacled look fits the perfect image of a guy who would make such a thing.

Douglas Hines says that he developed Roxxxy robot lifesized girlfriend after losing a friend in the 9-11 terrorist attack. Just who that friend is, Douglas Hines does not say, leaving one to wonder if he just spent too much money at strip clubs.

Roxxxy robot lifesized girlfriend is designed to respond to touch: a grab of her wrist causes her to “say” something depending on the personality type that’s installed. The whole thought bring the question of how Douglas Hines actually tested the product.

Roxxxy robot lifesized girlfriend is the first in what is going to be a line of products by “True Companion”, including, for women, a male version called Rocky. But why make this, really, is anyone’s guess.

What is disturbing is that in the video below the Roxxxy sex robot just sits there in an open position. It does nothing and would seem to be the perfect image of what Douglas Hines wants his women to do: nothing and just lay there. Be, well, submissive. In the video, this blogger was longing to see Roxxxy robot slap the crap out of Douglas Hines, but he didn’t program it to do that. But perhaps you can because Hines says you can “create your dream personality” to have.

But if it’s 2010 and we have Roxxxy sex robot lifesized girlfriend, what will 2020 bring? What this shows is technology replacing the need for human contact in everything from phones where people send texts, to invisible online commenters on forums, to this. Perhaps one good thing is that men who elect to go in this direction tske themselves out of the pool of us who love the real thing.

Roxxy is the world’s first sex robot; the new generation of love dolls complete with artificial intelligence, multiple customisable personalities, and even opinions about 911. Douglas Hines has created the True Companion to be totally lifelike, this means she has a full C cup and is ready for action! Hines claims that “She can’t vacuum, she can’t cook but she can do almost anything else if you know what I mean.” I’m not sure I do know what he means!

“I thought this was actually going to be a business call,” says Douglas Hines when Discovery News Tech called him late last week. You’ll have to forgive the TrueCompanion founder for being a bit absent-minded. After all, Hines caused an uproar of disbelief and excitement in January when he unveiled Roxxxy, “the world’s first sex robot,” at the Las Vegas’ Adult Entertainment Expo.

The robot boasts artificial intelligence, speech recognition technology and a bevy of recorded phrases, making it able to, on some levels, converse with her mate. She also has a personality-changer, an Internet connection to receive software and dialog updates, all for a price between $7,000 to $9,000.

With pre-orders of his invention reaching above 4,000 and a host of media attention in his corner, Hines took a break from his business calls to speak with Discovery News Tech about the robot’s origins and his expectations for the project.

Discovery News Tech: Why did you develop Roxxxy?
Douglas Hines: We came up with the concept of using a robot to help care for — not to replace a nurse — but help people who need extra care at home: invalids, Alzheimer’s patients, etc. It might not be cost-effective or practical to have a nurse full-time with the patient. But the robot would allow interaction with the patient as well as the technology to connect remotely and talk and care as needed. Because Medicare wouldn’t reimburse for the cost of it and because of concerns from a liability and insurance standpoint, we tabled that idea for the time being. But that’s actually catching on now too, so we’re really excited about all the momentum that’s being developed.

DNT: Why the switch from healthcare to sex?
DH: It was through necessity and opportunity. We have lots of patents around this technology and trade secrets. We’d also invested a large amount of time, energy and money. We basically looked for another marketplace for the product. We looked for opportunities with areas that needed a niche or were lacking innovation or real development, and we saw this as an opportunity to really stand out. There hasn’t been much innovation in the adult arena. There was a real opportunity to apply this technology into a new industry and breathe a lot of new life into it and create opportunity and a lot of added value.

DNT: How long did it take to fully develop the project?
DH: It was just myself back in 1993, when I developed a prototype using similar technology. But since 2000, this has been an ongoing project. The past three years have been focused on the adult community. It’s been a long road of refining.

DNT: Were you expecting such a frenzied reaction at the Adult Entertainment Expo?
DH: Not at all. But we’d done a tremendous amount of market research beforehand. We like to take calculated risks and not blind risks. We knew she would be received well. We spoke to two of the largest adult entertainment companies and knew this would be very big. We knew there was a market need and there was a niche we could fulfill, so we were excited. But we had no idea it would be so big, especially with [the Consumer Electronics Show] down the street. It was pleasurable to be able to talk to the technical people and other engineers. We had a lot of people come over from CES to see Roxxxy.

DNT: You’ve got more than 4,000 pre-orders. When are you planning to ship these?
DH: Everything is custom, so it could take two to three months depending on the specifications. We can customize hair color, skin type, breast size and other things. We have people requesting very custom orders. We’re working off of photos and video to reproduce the likeness of a woman for one project. We’re also speaking with one of the entertainment outlets to do a specialized robot for them. But for typical ones, two to three months is the time line.

DNT: Where are the robots produced?
DH: We have a company in India that’s the software side. Most of the tech stuff happens in India. Manufacturing happens in the U.S

DNT: One feature that stands out is the recorded dialog.
DH: The artificial intelligence is the underpinning of the whole project. I’ve done a lot of artificial intelligence research, and one of the primary patents around that technology is information matching. Everyone’s familiar with these dating services where you fill out a questionnaire and everyone says the same thing, like they like to walk on the beach. We developed data mining based on what your interests are. There’s a very large form customers fill out: what your interests are, what your likes and dislikes are. That form is used to generate the personality for Roxxxy that matches yours. That’s one of the most unique parts of it. The robotics is great, but the artificial intelligence by itself, which was carried over from the healthcare model, is a significant portion of the project.

DNT: Can you talk about Roxxxy’s ability to change her demeanor from shy to wild, etc.?
DH: That came out of testing. We have a very large group of testers that have a variety of interests. We don’t want to pigeonhole people, but people fell into a few different categories. We want the audience to be able to interact with Roxxxy without having to worry about the ins and out, and we want them to be able to do that without worrying about the different personalities. What we came up with is a template of different personality profiles. Those are actual profiles that are stored as catchy names, but reflect people who are shy [Frigid Farrah], naive [Young Yoko], wild [Wild Wendy], experienced [Mature Martha] and adventurous [S&M Susan]. You just need to tell Roxxxy to use that personality and she’ll react accordingly. Roxxxy will always have her original, out-of-the-box personality and the five other built-in options, but people have the ability to create and modify their own online.

DNT: Has there been any backlash to your invention?
DH: Well, we did have a death threat. I don’t like to talk about it, but we had someone who was going to “take care” of us and this new product at the trade show. My wife was more concerned than I was. But anytime anything new is introduced that’s a major step in a new direction, people are intimidated. I understand that. That’s the only backlash. It’s so new and so exciting that it’s going to take time for it to be adopted and mainstream. I definitely think it will be mainstream. This will be the future of robotics. It’s going to take time for people to understand it. It’s part of the process we need to do, to explain how this works to people so they’re not intimidated.